The NatWest Trophy
Future of the Competition
CricInfo will provide live ball-by-ball coverage of the 1997 Natwest Final
William Turrell reports (william@cricinfo.com)
The MacLaurin report casts some doubt over the long term future of the Natwest Trophy, at leastin it's present format.
Currently the competition is run on a 60 overs-a-side knockout basis. If the 18 First-Class Counties vote in favour of the proposals on September 15th thenfrom next season it would be reduced to 50 overs-a-side.
Another major change would be the moving of the final from September to August.The idea behind this is to prevent the advantage to the team bowling first that is currently facilitated by the early starts. Starting at 10.30am as the finalsdo now, on an Autumnal September morning in the UK, there is often a lot of dewon the ground.
The argument in favour of a September final is that the game provides a fittingclimax with only about two weeks play left in the County Championship and Sunday League before the end of the domestic season.CricInfo has a complete section on the MacLaurin report. You can read about thedetails in full, and send us your comments on the ideas that are proposed.
Date-stamped : 25 Feb1998 - 14:45